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| Shipley Receives Robotics Grant from LEGO Education |
The Shipley School’s First LEGO® League Team, the Gatorbots, received a grant from LEGO to participate in a Robotics Education Pilot Program. Only fifty-five out of 600 applicants were chosen for the program. Shipley will receive robotics equipment and a complementary curriculum in exchange for feedback and an evaluation of the program. LEGO Education will then use teachers’ feedback to guide future development, and will use pilot classrooms as models for other educators interested in using LEGO MINDSTORMS® Education NXT in their schools.Gary White, coordinator of the School’s First LEGO League Team and a member of Shipley’s Technology department, said, “This is such a big honor to be selected. I feel very privileged to evaluate this new curriculum.” White feels that the LEGO Education Robotics Program encourages collaborative problem-solving among students, while highlighting the importance (and fun) of math and science.
LEGO’s pilot program coincides with the release of the Lego Mindstorms NXT Robot, Lego’s most advanced robot ever. The NXT is extremely capable and has a host of new features, including precision motors, and proximity and sound detection sensors. While sophisticated, the new robot can be easily programmed by Middle School students to perform a wide-range of complex tasks.
Following completion of the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education curriculum, the Shipley School robotics team plans to evaluate the capabilities of the new robot against the currently available LEGO robot, the RCX. The team intends to publish their findings on the internet to assist other First LEGO League Teams in their transition from the RCX to the new NXT robot.
Copyright © 2006 The Shipley School, www.shipleyschool.org